David Peisner: I was a big fan of SNL growing up but In Living Color was so fresh to me. I was working on a story about it in 2015 and realized the influence of the culture, where Black culture went from obscure to mainstream.

P: How long have you been working on this book?

DP: The research started in 2015 but I didn’t start principal work on it in 2016 a little over a year.

P: Which former ILC cast member was the most interesting to interview?

DP: Interviewing Jim Carey was great, he was soft-spoken but had a lot to say and had an admiration of his time on the show. Keenen was also interesting; Tommy Davidson was open about how he was treated like a second banana but he stuck around with the show for all 5 season.

P: What are some interesting behind the scenes stories that may shock fans?

DP: There are interesting stories on how the show almost never happened, Keenen mentioned about how after 9 months of shooting the pilot Fox felt the show was too Black. They also thought the show might offend Black people. Keenan went into a focus group with five big suits telling him they were asking how ppl feel about the show and he responded with how the show was going to be revolutionary in a funny way not in a militant way; There was friction between Jim Carrey and Keenen, during a table reading when it was time to read his part Jim stuck his ass in Keenan’s face and read his lines from his ass. This inspired a running gag in the Ace Ventura movies.

P: What are some of your favorite skits?

DP: Early Homey the Clown sketches; they are funny but there is a lot of hard truth buried in those; The Brother’s brothers they were really political but funny. When working on the book I went back to rewatch the shows and many don’t hold up however the Brother’s Brothers still bite today by poking fun at Uncle Toms.

P: What were the challenges in getting this book complete?

DP: It’s a ton of work, there are two big challenges interviewing over 100 people and a lot of them, were hard to find; It was also hard to get in touch with the big stars of the show. A more interesting thing about it is I’m a white guy writing about Black culture and asking what right do I have to sell this story; However it’s been 25 years and no one has ever seized the opportunity; However, there were writers who felt the same about writing jokes about blackness despite being white

P: What is the show’s link to hip-hop bringing hip-hop to the mainstream?

DP: The show featured several Hip-hop acts and bringing them to primetime network TV so it can reach people who aren’t in LA or NY. But the show itself featured a lot of Hip-hop culture in the skits. At its height the show it pulled in as many as 20 million networks

P: What is your favorite literary genre to read?

DP: I have been reading a lot of contemporary fiction, but it’s a bit all over the chop, some of it’s for work but some of it’s for fun. I don’t really read much fantasy

P: What is an underrated book you enjoy?

DP: The book I give people is called White boy shuffle by Paul beady; I remember reading it back in the 90’s when it came out, it’s really funny and really smart he has a great way with language.

P: What can readers take away from the book?

DP: I hope people see it as being a way to understand that moment in time, it’s quite entertaining, it tells the history of the show and how we got from Richard Pryor to Kevin Hart; There’s a whole comedy lineage and it gets to this weird period with creators like Hudlin, Spike Lee, Keenan and it caused a huge shift in comedy

p: What other projects do you have in the works?

DP: I work mostly as a freelancer, I don’t write books often. This is my second book, Professional Idiot I wrote with Steve-O from Jackass.